Kenneth Copeland - Prosperity, the choice is yours

Prosperity: The Choice Is Yours

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Contents

Introduction

1 The Whole Gospel

2 The Source of Prosperity

3 ProsperityA Blessing or a Curse

4 The Fool's Dozen

Introduction

"Prosperity: The Choice Is Yours" is an extensive book on prosperity. I am excited because it has been birthed by a natural flow of revelation knowledge from my heart to yours. If you are experiencing financial trouble, this book is for you.

I desire with all my heart that you prosper and "be in health, even as your soul prospers." I pray that, as you read the following pages, you will be inspired to reach out beyond yourself in giving to the needs of others; and that you will receive revelation from the Holy SpiritHis wisdom and direction for your personal prosperity, in the Name of Jesus.

The Whole Gospel

In our effort to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ, is there a portion that we have forgotten? Is there a part we left out? What is the whole gospel? Let's look at the Gospel of Luke and find out.

And he (Jesus) came to Nazareth, where he had been brought up: and, as his custom was, he went into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and stood up for to read. And there was delivered unto him the book of the prophet Esaias (or, Isaiah). And when he had opened the book, he found the place where it was written, The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the broken-hearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him.

And he began to say unto them, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears (Luke 4:16-21).

I want you to notice that Jesus did not simply make the statement, This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears. It says, He began to say unto them. Verses 18 and 19 are a summary of what He said. I believe that they are a short outline of a sermon that he was about to preach. Verse 22 says, And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. Obviously, He continued to speak.

In the light of this scripture, the gospel has never been preached to the poor. I'm not talking about the new birth. I'm talking about each of the categories that Jesus mentioned in these scriptures.

He was anointed to preach. To the captives, He preached deliverance. To the brokenhearted, He preached healing. To the blind, He preached recovery of sight. He outlined here that the gospel covers many areas. We have preached healing, recovering of sight, deliverance and the new birth to the poor; but we have never preached the gospel to the poor.

The Gospel to the Poor

What is the gospel to the poor? The gospel to the poor is that Jesus has come and they don't have to be poor anymore! Not very many poverty-stricken people have ever heard the whole gospel. Most of them have heard that they are supposed to live a meager existence. That is what the missionaries who preached to them believed!

When I was in Africa, the Lord told me that He is holding the body of Christ in every nation responsible for winning their own lost. It takes money to finance a revival. How can they believe for any prosperity in Africa or India, where drought and famine have become a way of life? That is a major part of my calling.

I'm responsible for teaching the nations to observe to do all that Jesus commanded.

There are always some missionaries who will become upset about it. They'll argue, "You can preach abundance in the United States, but don't come to Africa and preach it." Or, they tell me,

"It won't work in El Salvador." "It won't work in Nicaragua," etc.

But when you are preaching the Word of God, it works.

God could care less whether anyone listening has a dime or not.

He didn't base His gospel on what government happens to be in power at the time. All God is looking for is faith! There is enough undiscovered wealth in the poorest nations of this world to turn their poverty into abundance if they would just believe the gospel. If there wasn't, God is more than able to put it there.

The Kingdom of God Produces "Things"

Abundance and prosperity are important to the kingdom of God because it is affected by them. Jesus said that if you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, all these things will be added to you. You can't tell me that the kingdom of God isn't affected by prosperity or it wouldn't produce things.

The Bible says, "Out of the mouth of two witnesses, let a thing be established." The second witness to this thought (that the gospel has not been preached to the poor) is Luke 7:20-22. When the men were come unto him (Jesus), they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another? And in that same hour he cured many of their infirmities and plagues, and of evil spirits; and unto many that were blind he gave sight. Then Jesus answering said unto them, Go your way, and tell John what things ye have seen and heard; how that the blind see, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, to the poor the gospel is preached. Jesus listed very specific categories. One of them was preaching the Good News to the poor man, thereby giving him hope and strength.

We need to stop allowing these poverty-stricken people to believe that by staying poor it will somehow make them more pious and more sanctified. If this were true, the people of today's starving Third World nations would be holy right now!

Poverty is an evil spirit. I remember one of my junior high school teachers telling my mother something that has marked my thinking all these years. He said, "I was raised in deep poverty. I fought my way through high school and through a college degree to get away from it. But," he said, "I don't care how hard I try and how hard I work, I still smell that poverty. I can't get away from it."

I remember thinking, "I wonder why he still smells poverty?"

It was because the spirit of poverty was still with him. Many rich people are operating under this spirit. It drove them to become rich. If the spirit of poverty can compel a man to become wealthy, it will drive him to keep his wealth as well. You would think a person who was raised in poverty would be motivated to get others out of it. But they won't turn loose of what they have.

They are afraid they will lose it and end up poor again. That same spirit of poverty is still dominating them today, even though they are wealthy.

Three Things We Must Know

The body of Christ must know three things regarding the laws of prosperity. If you are ignorant of them, whether you're rich or poor, you are a problem going somewhere to happen.

1. You must know that it is God's will to prosper His people. God is not limited by what part of the world you live in or what government you live under. Believers all over the world have proven that fact. I've heard testimonies of God prospering people in the most devastated places like Africa, El Salvador, Nicaragua and South America. The laws that govern abundance work for anyone who will put them to work. They are laws!

People have the idea that spiritual things are separate from material things. That isn't true.

Spiritual laws govern material things. A Spirit created all matter. So, the laws of prosperity will work for anyone who will meet the biblical requirements to walk in them.